Thomas More

Sir Thomas More (7 February, 1478–6 July, 1535), posthumously known also as Saint Thomas More, was an English lawyer, writer, and politician. During his lifetime he earned a reputation as a leading humanist scholar and occupied many public offices, including that of Lord Chancellor from 1529 to 1532. More coined the word "utopia", a name he gave to an ideal, imaginary island nation whose political system he described in a book published in 1516. He is chiefly remembered for his principled refusal to accept King Henry VIII's claim to be the supreme head of the Church of England, a decision which ended his political career and led to his execution as a traitor. More was canonized in 1935 by Pope Pius XII as a rebuke to the political extremists in Germany who championed putting considerations of State ahead of all others, even ahead of one's duties towards God. More became the patron saint of statesmen, lawyers, and politicians.

Scholarly and literary work

More combined his busy political career with a rich scholarly and literary production. His writing and scholarship earned him a considerable reputation as a Christian humanist in continental Europe, and his friend Erasmus of Rotterdam dedicated his masterpiece, In Praise of Folly, to him. (Indeed, the title of Erasmus's book is partly a play on More's name, the word folly being moria in Greek.) Erasmus also described More as a model man of letters in his communications with other European humanists. The humanistic project embraced by Erasmus and Thomas More sought to reexamine and revitalize Christian theology by studying the Bible and the writings of the Church Fathers in the light of classical Greek tradition in literature and philosophy. More and Erasmus collaborated on a Latin translation of the works of Lucian, which was published in Paris in 1506.

Related Topics:
Erasmus of Rotterdam - In Praise of Folly - Theology - Bible - Church Fathers - Greek - Lucian - Paris - 1506

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History of King Richard III

Between 1513 and 1518, More worked on a History of King Richard III, an unfinished piece of historiography which heavily influenced William Shakespeare's play Richard III. Both More's and Shakespeare's works are controversial among modern historians for their exceedingly unflattering portrayal of King Richard, a bias due at least in part to the authors' allegiance to the reigning Tudor dynasty, which had wrested the throne from Richard at the end of the Wars of the Roses. Although in the case of More's book it might be more that he slightly favored Republics. As King Henry VII, the first Tudor king, is barely in it and privately More expressed a scathing view of him at times. This is because Thomas More blamed Henry Tudor for business difficulties his father John More faced.

Related Topics:
1513 - 1518 - Richard III - Historiography - William Shakespeare - Richard III - Tudor dynasty - Wars of the Roses - King Henry VII

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Utopia

In 1515 More wrote his most famous and controversial work, Utopia, a book in which a fictional traveller, Raphael Hythloday, describes the political arrangements of an imaginary island nation named Utopia (a play on the Greek ou-topos, meaning "no place", and eu-topos, meaning "good place"). In the book, More contrasts the contentious social life of Christian European states with the perfectly orderly and reasonable social arrangements of the non-Christian Utopia, where private property does not exist and an almost complete religious toleration is practiced. Many commentators have pointed out that Karl Marx's later vision of the ideal communist state strongly resembles More's Utopia.

Related Topics:
1515 - Utopia - Christian - Europe - Private property - Religious toleration - Karl Marx - Communist

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More might have chosen the literary device of describing an imaginary nation primarily as a vehicle for discussing controversial political matters freely. His own attitude towards the arrangements he describes in the book is the subject of much debate. While it seems unlikely that More, a devout Catholic, intended pagan, proto-communist Utopia as a concrete model for political reform, some have speculated that More based his Utopia on monastic communalism or on the Biblical communalism described in the Acts of the Apostles.

Related Topics:
Monastic - Biblical - Acts of the Apostles

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Religious polemics

As Henry VIII's advisor and secretary, More helped to write the Defense of the Seven Sacraments, a polemic against Protestant doctrine that earned Henry the title of "Defender of the Faith" from the Pope in 1521. After Martin Luther responded with vulgar diatribes, More published a Reply to Luther which was in turn much criticized for its slanderous ad hominem attacks.

Related Topics:
Defense of the Seven Sacraments - Polemic - Protestant - Pope - 1521 - Martin Luther - Ad hominem

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